The nature of Europa's dark non-ice surface material: Spatially-resolved high spectral resolution spectroscopy from the Keck telescope

We present new 1.45-1.75 μm spectra of Europa's dark non-ice material with a spectral resolution (λ/δλ) of 1200, obtained by using adaptive optics on the Keck telescope to spatially separate the spectrum of the non-ice material from that of the surrounding ice-rich regions. Despite the great increase in spectral resolution over the previous best spectra of the non-ice material, taken with Galileo's near-infrared mapping spectrometer (NIMS) with λ/δλ=66, no new fine-scale spectral structure is revealed. The smoothness of the spectra is inconsistent with available laboratory spectra of crystalline hydrated salts at Europa temperatures, but is more consistent with various combinations of non-crystalline hydrated salts and/or hydrated sulfuric acid, as have been matched to the lower-resolution NIMS spectra.     

Atmospheric radiative transfer simulation for atmospheric correction of remote sensing data

IntroductionThe radiance leaving the earth-atmosphere sys-tem which can be sensed by a satellite borne ra-diometer is the sum of radiation emission fromtheearth surface and each atmospheric level that aretransmittedtothe top of the atmosphere.The radia-tion emissionfromthe earthsurface andthe radianceof each atmospheric level can be separated fromtheradiance at the top the atmospheric level a satellitemeasured.Thus,the earth surface parameters willbe retrieved from the surface radiance after a…     

利用Lageos 1 SLR资料解算1990-2001年的地球定向参数

利用 12年的Lageos 1卫星激光测距资料 (1990 - 2 0 0 1)解算得到了地球定向参数 (EOP) ,将该序列的结果与同期的EOP(IERS)C0 4进行比较 ,其外符精度为 :极移XP— 0 .4 0mas,YP— 0 .4 2mas ,日长变化Dr— 0 .0 35ms。     

The possible response of life zones in China under global climate change

The response of natural vegetation to climate change is of global concern. In this research, an aggregated Holdridge Life Zone System was used to study the possible response of life zones in China under doubled atmospheric CO₂ concentration with the input climatic parameters at 0.5×0.5° resolution of longitude and latitude from NCAR regional climate model 2 (RegCM2) coupled with the CSIRO global climate model. The results indicate that the latitudinal distribution of life zones would become irregular because of the complicated climate change. In particular, new life zones, such as subtropical desert (SD), tropical desert (TDE) and tropical thorn woodland (TTW), would appear. Subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest (SEBF), tropical rainforest and monsoon forest (TRF), SD, TDE and TTW zones would appear in the northeastern China. Cool-temperate mixed coniferous and broadleaved forest (CMC) and warm-temperate deciduous broadleaved forest (WDBF) zones would appear at latitudes 25–35°N. The temperate desert (TD) in the western China would become Tibetan high-cold plateau (THP), SEBF, WDBF and temperate steppe (TS), and a large part of THP would be replaced by TRF, TDE, SEBF, TS and TTW. The relative area (distribution area/total terrestrial area) of CMC, TRF, TDE and TTW zone would increase about 3%, 21%, 3% and 6%, respectively. However, the relative area of SEBF, TS, TD and THP would decrease about 5%, 3%, 19% and 4%, respectively. In all, the relative area of forests (CCF, CMC, WDBF, SEBF, TRF) would increase about 15%, but the relative area of desert (TD, SD, TDE, and TTW) and THP would decrease about 9% and 4%, respectively. Therefore, responses of different life zones in China to climate change would be dramatic, and nationwide corridors should be considered for the conservation of migrating species under climate change.     

STUDY ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF SHIPPING CENTERS AND TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS IN THE YELLOW SEA RIM IN THE YELLOW SEA RIM

It is very important to establish cooperative mechanism to guarantee all members to develop their e-conomies in the Yellow Sea Rim. In this paper, the development strategies ofshipplng centers and transportation networkare discussed based on economic giobalization tendency. The results argue that a united transportation network should bebuilt in order to promote the economic competition of Northeast Asia in the world. As a key component of the economiccooperation, a hierarchical shipping centers network should be established with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Pusan, Koho,and Tokyo as cores. The authorities of China, Japan, R. O. Korea and D. P. B. Korea should make more efforts tobuild a set of cooperation institutions based on raising the transportation efficiency.     

SPECULATION ON DEVELOPING TOUR RESOURCES OF THE TOURNAMENT ATHLETICS IN HARBIN CITY

The exploitation and utilization of the tour resources of tournament athletics, including skiling, boat sail-ing, archery, ice engraving, snow engraving, has become a new trend of the development of Chinese tourism. Due tothe unique cold climate and superior geographic location, Harbin is a promising city for developing tour resources of tourna-ment athletics. Based on the analysis of the superiority and peculiarity of Harbin, the speculation on development of tour resources of tournament athletics in Harbin is proposed as follows : 1 ) Harbin should develop its special tour resources of tournament athletics associated with needs of market; 2) Harbin should take the advantages of rich resources and devel-op ice and snow entertainment in winter and travel for sight-seeing and spending summer;, 3) the adjustment of the layoutof ice and snow resources should be based on the idea of taking Harbin as the center and all-side opening at the largescale in the way of radiation; 4) tourism should be developed by the combined efforts of various departments to make feasi-ble plan, and the organizers should pay much attention to ensuring the safetv of tourists.     

Reliability assessment of granular filters in embankment dams

Empirical criteria have been used successfully to design filters of most embankment large dam projects throughout the world. However, these empirical rules are only applicable to a particular range of soils tested in laboratory and do not take into account the variability of the base material and filter particle sizes. In addition, it is widely accepted that the safety of fill dams is mainly dependent on the reliability of their filter performance. The work herein presented consists in a new general method for assessing the probability of fulfilling any empirical filter design criteria accounting for base and filter heterogeneity by means of first‐order reliability methods (FORM), so that reliability indexes and probabilities of fulfilling any particular criteria are obtained. This method will allow engineers to estimate the safety of existing filters in terms of probability of fulfilling their design criteria and might also be used as a decision tool on sampling needs and material size tolerances during construction. In addition, sensitivity analysis makes possible to analyse how reliabilities are influenced by different sources of input data. Finally, in case of a portfolio risk assessment, this method will allow engineers to compare the safety of several existing dams in order to prioritize safety investments and it is expected to be a very useful tool to evaluate probabilities of failure due to internal erosion. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of multi‐platform,multi‐temporal remote‐sensing data for calibration of a distributed hydrological model: an application in the Arno basin,Italy

Images from satellite platforms are a valid aid in order to obtain distributed information about hydrological surface states and parameters needed in calibration and validation of the water balance and flood forecasting. Remotely sensed data are easily available on large areas and with a frequency compatible with land cover changes. In this paper, remotely sensed images from different types of sensor have been utilized as a support to the calibration of the distributed hydrological model MOBIDIC, currently used in the experimental system of flood forecasting of the Arno River Basin Authority. Six radar images from ERS‐2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors (three for summer 2002 and three for spring–summer 2003) have been utilized and a relationship between soil saturation indexes and backscatter coefficient from SAR images has been investigated. Analysis has been performed only on pixels with meagre or no vegetation cover, in order to legitimize the assumption that water content of the soil is the main variable that influences the backscatter coefficient. Such pixels have been obtained by considering vegetation indexes (NDVI) and land cover maps produced by optical sensors (Landsat‐ETM). In order to calibrate the soil moisture model based on information provided by SAR images, an optimization algorithm has been utilized to minimize the regression error between saturation indexes from model and SAR data and error between measured and modelled discharge flows. Utilizing this procedure, model parameters that rule soil moisture fluxes have been calibrated, obtaining not only a good match with remotely sensed data, but also an enhancement of model performance in flow prediction with respect to a previous calibration with river discharge data only. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.